DEAR DIARY

THIS AUSSIE MUM IS ON A MISSION TO CHANGE MENTAL HEALTH STATS AMONG KIDS, ONE DOLL AT A TIME

- • By Emma Levett

Like many young girls, Stella Beckett had a tough time growing up, struggling with anxiety and low self-worth. Shy at school and keen to fly under the radar, her troubles began at high school, where she was picked on.

“I was bullied by girls in a higher grade and that really rattled me," Stella, 40, from the Gold Coast in Queensland, tells WHO. “My parents were going through a divorce, and I felt really alone and developed this narrative of it's not safe to be seen. This fed into my anxiety and it became really debilitating. I'd have full panic attacks if I had to speak publicly.”

With the help of a psychologist, Stella was able to work through her problems, and says that in her late teens, she started to see that these feelings of not being ‘good enough’ and not knowing how to speak up weren't just problems for her.